This is a fragment of an Aeolosoma hemprichi (Oligochaeta) body between the glass slide and cover glass.
I found it difficult to recognize these light round/circular spaces (asterisks). Could you advise me what they can be?
Staining: Gill II hemotoksylin
I do not know. Sorry. I have never studied microscopically oligochaetes.
Rafael
Although I know nothing about these worms, I did an internet search for some information about them. It appears, from looking at the images you provided, that what you are looking at are the remains of the oil droplets referred to at the following website. You can see two movies of these transparent worms feeding, with well-defined oil droplets in their epithelium. It appears from your slides that you are looking at the epidermis of the animal. You are seeing spherical chambers enclosed by a thin layer of cytoplasm with a nucleated cell. I believe that the oil would have been dissolved in the histology preparation before the slides were prepared. If you had frozen sections, you would probably see the oil if you used Oil Red O for stain. The oil might be preserved in the tissue with osmium tetroxide prior to processing for histology.
http://www.microbelibrary.org/library/resources/3190-aeolosoma-hemprichi-ingestion-of-soil-particles-and-digestion-of-microbial-films
Thank you, Edward.
Yes, they look like adipocytes. I will prepare cross sections to confirm it.
Ania
Aeolosoma worms have been noticed frequently, but little actual research has been done on them. Most current worm researchers consider the worms to be Polychaetes rather than Oligochaetes, or to belong to their own class. The "oil droplets" have not been studied much, and while they are probably a form of adipocytes it would be great if you could confirm this. Then comes questions such as type of oil, and what is it used for??? I would be glad to look at your findings and make suggestions if you want.
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